Getting Along When You (Vehemently) Disagree

First, an apology that I’ve haven’t been blogging for a month or so. I have a couple of other writing projects on the go this fall, and I hope to be “back in the saddle” when those are completed in November. I’ve also been writing for a website called “steadfastlutherans.org” on the subject of science and faith, and you can read some of my articles there.

But having watched my first ever “pay per view” event this weekend, I felt compelled in this run-up month to our national elections to reflect on it. The event was “The Rumble in the Air Conditioned Auditorium,” the debate between Bill O’Reilly of Fox and Jon Stewart of Comedy Central. Despite having strong conservative leanings, I’ve long been a bigger fan of Stewart than O’Reilly. Yet like John Wesley my heart has been “strangely warmed” by the genuine friendship between these two men with significant political disagreements. Here are two individuals with very different (one might say radically different) takes on government and economic policy. Yet for an hour and a half they shared a stage – then some rather uncomfortable looking lounge chairs – and demonstrated how people of very different political stripes can air their views in a (somewhat) civilized way.

This came on the heels of the debate between two of the presidential candidates, Governor Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama. I found that debate, oddly enough, to be another pretty good example of two people who have strong and disparate views on a number of issues, yet could still shake hands with each other at the end. One criticism I heard of the debate was that it was too substantive (David Brooks), another that it lacked good ol’ fashioned ad hominem fireworks (Chris Matthews). In other words, it was civilized and presented some substantive policy choices confronting the American people in November on a range of issues.

It’s hard not to succumb to baser instincts when you’re arguing with someone who is clearly wrong. If our opponents are wrong, it must be because they are intellectually deficient in some way, do not have access to “the facts,” are mentally ill, or are following some nefarious evil plan. Political opponents are not misguided, naive or ill-informed anymore – they are unpatriotic, demented, and evil. It is notoriously difficult to have a civilized debate with someone you believe to be demonically possessed. That’s why, in my opinion, there is a lack of said kind of debate in our fair land.

There used to be common expression in protestant Christian circles: “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” Lutherans, particularly, emphasize our salvation “by grace alone,” that our faith in Christ is something that cannot be arrived at by reason alone. That doesn’t mean we believe faith is unreasonable, but rather that fallen human reason fails us when it comes to clearly and rationally examining the evidence for faith. We see it, and yet do not see it. If we are Christian, it is God’s working alone. As Luther famously put it, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him…” (Small Catechism, Article III). That doctrine should preserve, at least in Christians, a sense that if one holds “the right opinion” it is not because we are better or smarter, but because our God has been gracious to us.

Near the end of the “Rumble,” Bill and Jon were asked why the political debate in our country is so vitriolic. Bill’s answer was simple: “capitalism.” Listening to our opponents and trying to put ourselves in their shoes does not make money. Love does not fill wallets. But hatred does. We fallen human beings want desperately to hate, and we love it when someone tells us we are justified in dismissing and hating “the other.” We can dismiss Christian conservatives because they are homophobic. We can dismiss liberal atheists because they hate America. We can dismiss Mitt Romney because he’s a millionaire, one of the hated 1%. We can dismiss President Obama because he’s a socialist. When we dismiss, we all lose. When we listen, we cannot help but win. When Stewart was asked who won the debate between him and O’Reilly, he quickly answered: “America. American won tonight.”

The opposite of dismissing someone’s opinion is not agreeing with it. The opposite of dismissing is listening.